Add ne.pw

[neupeer]

Due to #2200
We found the official website of the registry of the .pw top-level domain, which shows that ne.pw is still a valid second-level domain suffix. It would be hasty to remove ne.pw under the current circumstances. Please reconsider.
.pw registry website: https://pwregistry.pw/

[simon-friedberger]

cc @groundcat

[wdhdev]

We cannot confirm that is the official registry website, however, https://www.registry.pw is the official registry site, as per the IANA page, which is a trusted source: https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/pw.html

A page linked on the site you have provided is https://www.pwregistry.pw/policycouncil.php, which seems to have not been updated since 2012, over 10 years ago.

It is important to note the reasons for removal, which can still be verified today:

The Google search found nothing for the ne.pw domain, while Bing search returned several sites under ne.pw. However, nearly all the results have the same site name and title, suggesting possible SEO manipulation, likely taking advantage of the fact that ne.pw is treated as a ccTLD (similar to .co.uk, .com.au, etc.) by search engines due to its inclusion in the ICANN section of the PSL.

Additionally, Certificate Transparency reveals numerous SSL certificates issued to subdomains with randomized characters, which looks suspicious at best. This likely indicates manipulation for either SEO or spamming activities.

Due to the specialty of this domain (as a PSL ICANN section domain), both VirusTotal and Subdomain Finder are unable to scan it, as VirusTotal treats it as a ccTLD. Consequently, no subdomains were found for ne.pw by these tools.

As well as the other reasons noted in the removal PR.

[groundcat]

The intention of this PR, if not malicious, appears questionable. hxxps://pwregistry[.]pw/ is not the official registry website - the correct URL is https://registry.pw/, which can be traced from the IANA page. Even if this was once the authoritative site, the information on it has been outdated since 2012 according to archive.org. It incorrectly states that the namespace is meant only for citizens and residents of the Republic of Palau, and that the Palau-specific .pw namespace is not yet active - both statements are no longer true.

Oh, and would someone kindly explain how the Palau NIC mysteriously ended up operating .ne.pw from southern China, along with all those totally legitimate-looking domain uses and absolutely trustworthy advertisements? (#2200)

[neupeer]

First, we can see from the IANA website http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/pw.html that [email protected] is the contact email address for the Administrative Contact, so the authenticity of https://pwregistry.pw/ as the official website of the .pw registry is beyond doubt. Then, public suffix has no responsibility to judge which is a public TLD or not, because we have no way to ensure that all stakeholders participate in the discussion.

[wdhdev]

First, we can see from the IANA website http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/pw.html that [email protected] is the contact email address for the Administrative Contact, so the authenticity of pwregistry.pw as the official website of the .pw registry is beyond doubt.

Just because they use that domain name for email does not mean it is up to date with registry information. Both, @groundcat and I, have noted that the information has been outdated since 2012.

It is certainly a stretch to say that it is the official website of the registry "beyond doubt". It literally is not stated as the registry site, on the IANA page!

It is clearly evident they have moved to https://www.registry.pw.

Then, public suffix has no responsibility to judge which is a public TLD or not, because we have no way to ensure that all stakeholders participate in the discussion.

We have to consider other perspectives, e.g. why is that domain being operated from Southern China, when Palau is the host country of the TLD? It is not clearly stated by the registry any more that it is an operated TLD, other than an old website last updated in 2012, it is quite clear the TLD structure has changed.

Also, at the end of the day we are not "judging" whether it is a public TLD, we are simply trying to remove debris from a static text file.

A bit off topic, but still applicable; who is genuinely registering rxdzcjgi.ne.pw, cmdyktlk.ne.pw or many of the other random websites that show up on Google search?

---

This PR, from my perspective at least, seems somewhat malicious, as the evidence for removal is crystal clear that the domain is no longer used as a TLD, you are the only person who has commented about this so far. It has not seemed to affect any other internet users.

[groundcat]

A broader issue is that other entries like co.pw, or.pw, ed.pw, go.pw, and belau.pw should likely be removed too due to inactivity. We will probably end up keeping only .pw in the list and remove all other second-level pw entries that have been dormant for many years.

Please close this PR as the underlying motivations appear to lack legitimate justification.

[wdhdev]

@groundcat I'll look into removing those other potentially unused entries, likely tomorrow (in around 12 hours).

[simon-friedberger]

Requests to add official SLDs should come from the registry or must include evidence of use.

[neupeer]

I think it was a mistake to remove ne.pw, and it is necessary to add it back to the list to avoid affecting potential users and the online community, because the public suffix list should not make judgments, and it is an indisputable fact that ne.pw appears on https://pwregistry.pw/.

[wdhdev]

Have you not read any of our comments? pwregistry.pw CAN NOT be relied on for up-to-date information. It seems to be fairly clear that this PR may have malicious intents.

[neupeer]

Whether a website has been updated recently does not change its definition and status as an official website. We can now easily see many credible sources like https://cdn.loc.gov/copyright/onlinesp/agents/p/pwregcrp.pdf, which can prove that https://pwregistry.pw/ is the official website of the .pw registry. I think discussing this issue is suspected of misleading the direction of discussion.

[wdhdev]

That is a document from 2004. It cannot be verified as up-to-date for today. We would prefer to trust the official registry website listed on the IANA page.

[neupeer]

It is undeniable that we have all seen the email address [email protected] on the IANA website, which uses pwregistry.pw as the email domain name.

[wdhdev]

Scroll down a bit on the page where you see "URL for registration services", it shows a different domain. Why do you want this domain re-added so badly?

Anyways, as Simon said above, we do not accept updates to the ICANN section of the PSL without sufficient evidence, assuming the submission is not by the registry.

[dnsguru]

I know the .pw IANA delegee and will ask them to weigh in.

[simon-friedberger]

I know the .pw IANA delegee and will ask them to weigh in.

Thanks, Jothan! When you do, please ask about the entire section:

// pw : https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/pw.html
pw
belau.pw
co.pw
ed.pw
go.pw
or.pw

[neupeer]

I'm also curious, why does @groundcat want to remove this domain so badly? You think I don't represent the registry, so you think he is an authorized representative of the registry? I also have reasonable reasons to think that some people who have recently participated in the maintenance of the list have ulterior motives.

[wdhdev]

I never said he was a representative of the registry, nor did he say he was. We are just volunteers cleaning up debris.

[neupeer]

But before we understand the situation, is it too careless to hastily remove suffixes like ne.pw and update the ICANN section of the PSL? After all, the significance of the public suffix list lies largely in the care of different network users, and even the smallest community can have appropriate arrangements.

[groundcat]

I'm also curious, why does @groundcat want to remove this domain so badly? You think I don't represent the registry, so you think he is an authorized representative of the registry? I also have reasonable reasons to think that some people who have recently participated in the maintenance of the list have ulterior motives.

@neupeer Your claims have been demonstrated to be neither reasonable nor made in good faith. The misuse of ne.pw was also caught and documented (English translation) by Tencent, who permanently banned this namespace from their ecosystem due to extensive malicious activity under a huge amount of ne.pw subdomains.

This domain should be considered a clear case of PSL misuse. Whether under ICANN or private section, your request will not likely to be fulfilled.

I respectfully request that you refrain from making ad hominem attacks against myself or our volunteers.

[simon-friedberger]

I must remind everybody of the Mozilla Community Participation Guidelines. I am locking this conversation pending feedback via @dnsguru.

[dnsguru]

There are many entries that have sat stale in the upper section of the PSL which were long overdue to be revised, as ccTLDs will sometimes pivot their structures without updating entries in this catalog. I have gone out of my way to spread awareness within the ICANN community across the last 15 years but despite that, many are unaware of its existence and benefits.

Some new volunteers have recently joined, have identified where there is some driftpoints where third parties have identified and registered abandoned ccTLD subspace and are contributing time working to improve the hygeine of the ### ICANN section to list only the IANA delegate namespace.

There are security practitioners that have been requesting this type of audit happen, to avoid any inappropriate misinterpretation of administrative delegation be inferred by those who solely view the domain name space through the PSL.

I did contact the registry was able to see briefly that or.pw was registered at dynadot Moments after I looked. More to follow.

It remains ambiguous.

[dnsguru]

I had a response IM dialog with the .PW administrator, which I directed them to review the pull request. Their response, after reviewing the PR was the following:

@jothan. don't accept this please. ne.pw is not an authorized subdomain for .pw. there are reserved subdomains for .pw, but ne.pw was inadvertantly registered as a sld. as of today, only gov.pw has been allocated.

so the list for .pw in the ### ICANN section should be reduced to

pw
gov.pw

@neupeer to be fair, ne.pw is welcome to submit within the ### PRIVATE section, but there are no guarantees of acceptance. It will be subject to review and comments, including being screened against RBL sources